Archive for July 24, 2012

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Developers Dish on iCloud’s Challenges

Lex Friedman:

Implementing the first two syncing approaches isn’t easy, but developers tell Macworld that the third approach, for syncing Core Data, is what Steve Jobs might call “a bag of hurt”—it’s extremely complex. While iOS 6 will offer developers some significant improvements for behind-the-scenes iCloud syncing, the challenges such syncing presents will likely remain difficult.

Are there any applications from Apple that use Core Data iCloud syncing?

Update (2012-07-24): Or, Matt Stevens asks, Core Data at all?

Update (2012-10-26): Troy Harris and Reddit on Core Data and iCloud.

Logitech K760 Keyboard

Gabe Weatherhead reviews the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 (Amazon):

I was skeptical of the multiple device connections. It sounded too good to be true. It’s not. After configuring my Mac and iPad, I was able to easily switch with only a second delay.

I actually really like the Apple Wireless Keyboard (Amazon), and batteries last longer than a week for me, but this sounds interesting.

Mocha

Logan Collins (via Jonathan Rentzsch):

Mocha is a runtime that bridges JavaScript to Objective-C. It is built on top of JavaScriptCore, the component of WebKit responsible for parsing and evaluating JavaScript code, and BridgeSupport, which enables libraries to expose the definition of their C structures and functions for use at run-time (as opposed to compile-time).

Turning Off Ads in Parallels

Parallels Support (via Mike Ash):

We use in-product notifications to share several types of information with our customers. First, and most importantly, we share information about product updates which are generally related to compatibility with OS X, new features and product enhancements. Second, we occasionally share special offers from Parallels or other third party companies who provide special deals for our customers. Many of our customers rely on the information about product updates and appreciate the special deals for products that are of interest to them.

Individual notifications can be turned off by clicking the “don’t show this again” button. However, because customers need to receive important product information, there is not a mechanism for customers to completely disable notifications.

The whole thread is disturbing. When Parallels first came out, I used it to run Windows. Lately, I’ve been using VMware Fusion, mostly to run prior and pre-release versions of Mac OS X.

MailForge’s Future

With the news about Thunderbird and Sparrow, this has not been a good month for Mac e-mail clients. And now it seems there’s something going on with MailForge.

Update (2012-07-25): Matt Milano:

As lead developer, I have actually been privileged to have two parallel careers, sometimes complimentary and sometimes at odds. Recently, I was on sabbatical for a couple of months to have surgery on an old sports injury I had been putting off having fixed for a long time. During that time, I increasingly came to the realization that I simply don’t want to develop software anymore. I have been involved in this business for 13 years. While it’s been an awesome ride, and I’ve accomplished some significant things in that time, I have found that I enjoy my secondary career far more of late.

He’s found another company to take over development of MailForge.